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Article COLOURED MASONRY IN THE UNITED STATES. ← Page 2 of 2 Article COLOURED MASONRY IN THE UNITED STATES. Page 2 of 2
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Coloured Masonry In The United States.
questioned Bro . Hervey , Grand Secretary of England , as to when the G . L . of England erased the African Lodge from its register ( of course no inquiry was made at tho same time as to when the white American Lodges were so erased ) , and also as to whether Bro . Hervey regarded the African Lodge as still legitimate . To which Bro . Hervey replied that the Lodge was erased in 1813 , and that ho did not deem tho said
Lodge legitimate . But Bro . Hervoy soon after came to a different conclusion , when he wrote to Bro . Moore that , providing tho African Lodge continued its meetings regularly , he ( Bro . Hervey ) was not prepared to pronounce it clandestine . This , together with the conversation I had with Bro . Hervey upon the subject , the reader will please to bear in mind .
Early in 1869 , Bro . John F . Heard , chairman of the said committee , saw the African Lodge charter and records at tho State House , Boston , where Bro . Lewis Hayden , G . M . of Prince Hall G . L . is employed . According to Bro . Hayden ' s statement , Bro . Heard called three times , and devoted each time about an hour in examination of the records . I once happened to call at the State House just after
Bro . Heard left the office , and then I myself saw two MSS . records of the African Lodge . They were certainly old , and tho writing had become yellow j but beyond a glance hero and there , I paid no attention to the contents , save and except I noticed that tho chirography was not done by a graduate of a college ; tho writing and spelling were faulty , but this would not invalidate or impair the testimony of
the said records . Subsequently , Bro . Heard twice requested me to give him a synopsis of these records , and promised to incorporate it into his report . I , however , declined to meddle with it . At last the committee met . The majority were disposed to acknowledge nothing . They evidently thought it dangerous to their foregone conclusion to acknowledge either the genuineness of the charter or
the existence of records which furnished evidence of the regularity and continuity of meetings of the Lodge , which , if proved , would have made the Lodge legal according to Bro . Hervey ' s opinion . The chairman , however , insisted on acknowledging , at least the validity of the charter . So , at last , a compromise was affected between these high and mighty contracting parties to acknowledge the charter and
ignore the records , and the following quibble furnished their excuse for shirking from their duty : — " Tour committee have examined the charter , and believe it is authentic ; but as they do not deem it to be necessary at this time to investigate the historical statements contained in the petition , they have not inquired into its legal Masonio effect , nor whether
proper organisation under it ever took place . The petitioners include only a portion of persons who claim to derive privileges from this instrument , when it is obvious that the granting of this prayer , for the reasons they advance , would equally benefit their associates who have not joined in the petition , and over whom this Grand Lodge would have no control . Under these circumstances it is not neces .
sary to inquire into the validity of the proceedings of the persons named in the charter , or whether the petitioners have any just claim to be considered their successors . " In 1870 Bro . William S . Gardner G . M . of Massachusetts , delivered a long address on the coloured question . His arguments were chiefly based on American Masonio laws ; according to which the
African Lodge had not a shadow of right . He also dwelt on its illegal secession from the G . L . of England , forgetting at the same time that the white American Lodges were guilty of the same offence . He quoted the first letter of Bro , Hervey , bnt omitted mention of the second , & c . & c . I reviewed the said address in the July number of the Masonic
Monthly , 1870 . And , among other things , I referred to his ignoring Bro . Hervey ' s second letter . Bro . Gardner read my article carefully , and then frankly acknowledged that my " criticisms wero fair and square j" but he assured me that when he compiled his address , he was not aware that Bro . Hervey changed his opinion . I thereupon exonerated Bro . Gardner from the charge of ignoring in tho next
number of the Masonic Monthly . One mistake of Bro . Gardner in the said address I entirely overlooked in my review , viz ., that the African Lodge became dormant after tho death of Prince Hall in 1807 , and continued so until near 1824 . Tho address of the Grand Master of Ohio last winter in favour of
chartering the coloured Lodges in his jurisdiction , brought out the whole tribe of Masonic qnibblers in our magazines , and the alleged dormancy of the African Lodge was made by them a great point in their arguments . The following specimen will show the st yle of these luminaries : —
" In 1784 the Grand Lodge of England granted a charter to Prince Hall and other coloured men for holding a Lodge in Boston . As there was already a Grand Lodge in Massachusetts , it is evident that the granting of that charter was illegal , and , according to tho recognised principles of American Masonio law , the said charter was null and void . But let that pass . There are still more important irregularities . The
African Lodge , No . 429 , * as it was called , was never recognised by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts . After some time it ceased its connection with the Grand Lodge of England , and about the beginning of the present century its registration was stricken from the rolls of that Grand Lodge , by which act its Masonic life was effectually destroyed , as would be a man ' s life by cutting off his head . In
the course of events , Prince Hall and his compeers died , and the Lodge which had been for some years acting without any Masonic authority fell into abeyance , or in Masonic parlance became dormant , or more properly extinct . Some years afterwards it was revived , but by whom or under what authority , never has been shown by those who revived it . Notice of the revival was given to the Grand Lodge of England , but no reply or recognition followed . It received , of course ,
no recognition from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts . " It is needless to demonstrate that the above paragraph contains very little truth and a great many mis-statements . It is not true that the African Lodge was stricken off from the English roll before the death of Hall , or that the Lodge had been acting during Hall ' s lifetime without any authority . It is not true that the Lodge had
Coloured Masonry In The United States.
ever been dormant ; it consequently never revived , and it consequently never gave notice of such a revival to the Grand Lodge of England . I can satisfy any impartial tribunal that between 1807 , tho year when Prince Hall dio . l , and 1824 , when tho African Lodgo brethren asked the English authorities to grant them either a now charter to work seven degrees , or otherwise empower them to confer tho Royal Arch
degrees ( they understanding that these consisted of four degrees ) , that between theso two periods not a year passed without initiations , & o ., taking place in the African Lodgo ; of all which my friend Bro . Gardner seems to be perfectly satisfied . But the following authorities will further demonstrate the legitimacy of our coloured Masonio organizations : —
1 st . Tho following extract from Dr . Winslow Lewis's letter , in 1868 , to Bro . Lewis Hayden : — " I am also free to confess that , if tho door of our Order was open to all , irrespective of colour , it would make it , as it should be , truly cosmopolitan . I hope to be spared to that epoch , and no one will hail it with more sincere satisfaction than your friend and brother
according to my feeling , WINSLOW LEWIS . " 2 nd . Dr . Joseph Robbing , now Deputy Grand Master of Illinois , also reviewed Bro . Gardner ' s address in 1870 , and cam © to tho sarao conclusion I did . And I am pleased to add , that if Bro . Gardner now had the power , ho would incorporate the coloured Lodges in Massachusetts into tho Grand Lodge ' s jurisdiction .
3 rd . In Ohio , and in Minnesota , the Grand Masters recommended the chartering of the coloured Lodges within their respective juris dictions , and a committee in Ohio , consisting of honest men of both of our political parties , have unanimously pronounced the colonred Masons as legitimate and legal as the whites . 4 th . Bro . John W . Simons , P . G . M . of New York , and Masonio
editor of the New York Dispatch , who is a very estimable gentleman , but strongly tinged with American prejndices against niggers , and who , as already stated , reprinted in the Dispatch the " story No . 2 , " two years after it was exploded by our committee ; tho said Rro . Simons recently admitted to mo , that the conduct of tho Grand Lodgo of Massachusetts in not chartering the African Lodgo ero
it organized its own Grand Lodge was ivrong , thus acknowledging the legal origin of the said Lodgo . 5 th . Bro . Albert Pike , P . G . M . and Sovereign Grand Commander of tho A . and A . Rite of the Southern jurisdiction of tho United States , who is generally admitted as the best authority on Masonic jurisprudence in America , wrote to the G . S . of Ohio as follows : —
" Prince Hall Lodge was as regular a Lodge as any Lodgo created by competent authority , and had a perfect right ( as other Lodges in Europe did ) to establish other Lodges , making itself a mother Lodgo . That ' s the way the Berlin Lodges , Throe Globes and Royal York , became Grand Lodges * * * If the negro Lodges aro not regular , they can easily get regularized . If our Grand Lodges
won't recognise negro Lodges , they have the right to go elsewhere . The Grand Lodgo can't say to eight or more Masons , black , or white , we ' ¦ will not give you a charter because you are negroes , or because yon wish to work in tho Scotch Rite , and you shall not go elsewhere to get one . ' That latter part is bosh . " Be it further known that Bro . Pike is so averse to negroes that he
threatens to withdraw from the Craft if they aro admitted . But lie does not resort , as others have , to quibblings and falsification of historic facts and Masonic precedents . Bro . Piko is the only honourable opponent to the admissiou of negroes in America . Last , and not least , Bro . Caldwoll , G . S . of Ohio , sent mo the following extract of a letter from Bro . Parvin P . G . M ., and now G . S . of Iowa , whoso interesting autobiography appeared recently in the
FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE : — " I havo read opinions of Piko and Lewis in tho pamphlet' New Year' you sent me . My own opinion is , that the negroes can make as good a show for the legality of their Grand Lodges as tho whites can . It is only a matter of taste , and not of law . I am satisfied that all the world outside of the United States will ere long recognise
them , and I think we had much better acknowledge them than to blend them into our organisations . " The above array of American Masonic authorities of' the highest respectability , seconding and sustaining as it were tho opinion of the R . W . Bro . John Hervey , justifies me in earnestly recommending and advising our English W . Masters of Lodges to accord the same
treatment to Americans hailing from colonred Grand Lodges as they do to those of the white Lodges . Should the question ever bo brought before the Grand Lodge of England , I have no doubt that after calm and mature deliberation it will sustain the decisions already passed by the Grand Orient of France , the United Confederation of Grand Lodges in Germany , the Grand Lodges of Belgium , Switzerland ,
Italy , Hungary , and elsewhere , acknowledging the legality of the American coloured Masons . As to the doctrine of " exclusive jurisdiction , " be it remembered that it was through the arrogance , malice , envy , pride , and tyranny of the white Masons towards their coloured brethren—conduct justly denounced by the Grand Orient of Franco as "AN OUTRAGE AGAINST HUMANITY AND MASONRY "—it was through
the nn-Masonic conduct of the whites in the first place that the coloured brethren were driven to establish Grand Lodges of their own ; and even now the fault of divided jurisdiction rests with the whites , for nothing prevents union here , save and except tho pride and arrogance of the whites . "As Masons we are of all tongues , kindreds , religions , and nations . "
All must be judged by the same standard and the same laws . If secession from the Grand Lodge of England was justifiable on the part of the whites , it was also justifiable on the part of the blacks , and vice versa . In short , the question of colour should no more influence our judgment or condnct either for or against a brother Mason than the question of religion , nationality , or politics .
CHINESE CABVHTO . —For Sale , an elaborately carverl set of Ivory Chessmen ; The Kings stand 8 | inches high , the other pieces in proportion . Knights and Pawns on horseback , all mounted on stands , with concentric balls . Can be seen , and fall particulars obtained , on application to W . W . Honour , 07 Barbican , — , 4
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Coloured Masonry In The United States.
questioned Bro . Hervey , Grand Secretary of England , as to when the G . L . of England erased the African Lodge from its register ( of course no inquiry was made at tho same time as to when the white American Lodges were so erased ) , and also as to whether Bro . Hervey regarded the African Lodge as still legitimate . To which Bro . Hervey replied that the Lodge was erased in 1813 , and that ho did not deem tho said
Lodge legitimate . But Bro . Hervoy soon after came to a different conclusion , when he wrote to Bro . Moore that , providing tho African Lodge continued its meetings regularly , he ( Bro . Hervey ) was not prepared to pronounce it clandestine . This , together with the conversation I had with Bro . Hervey upon the subject , the reader will please to bear in mind .
Early in 1869 , Bro . John F . Heard , chairman of the said committee , saw the African Lodge charter and records at tho State House , Boston , where Bro . Lewis Hayden , G . M . of Prince Hall G . L . is employed . According to Bro . Hayden ' s statement , Bro . Heard called three times , and devoted each time about an hour in examination of the records . I once happened to call at the State House just after
Bro . Heard left the office , and then I myself saw two MSS . records of the African Lodge . They were certainly old , and tho writing had become yellow j but beyond a glance hero and there , I paid no attention to the contents , save and except I noticed that tho chirography was not done by a graduate of a college ; tho writing and spelling were faulty , but this would not invalidate or impair the testimony of
the said records . Subsequently , Bro . Heard twice requested me to give him a synopsis of these records , and promised to incorporate it into his report . I , however , declined to meddle with it . At last the committee met . The majority were disposed to acknowledge nothing . They evidently thought it dangerous to their foregone conclusion to acknowledge either the genuineness of the charter or
the existence of records which furnished evidence of the regularity and continuity of meetings of the Lodge , which , if proved , would have made the Lodge legal according to Bro . Hervey ' s opinion . The chairman , however , insisted on acknowledging , at least the validity of the charter . So , at last , a compromise was affected between these high and mighty contracting parties to acknowledge the charter and
ignore the records , and the following quibble furnished their excuse for shirking from their duty : — " Tour committee have examined the charter , and believe it is authentic ; but as they do not deem it to be necessary at this time to investigate the historical statements contained in the petition , they have not inquired into its legal Masonio effect , nor whether
proper organisation under it ever took place . The petitioners include only a portion of persons who claim to derive privileges from this instrument , when it is obvious that the granting of this prayer , for the reasons they advance , would equally benefit their associates who have not joined in the petition , and over whom this Grand Lodge would have no control . Under these circumstances it is not neces .
sary to inquire into the validity of the proceedings of the persons named in the charter , or whether the petitioners have any just claim to be considered their successors . " In 1870 Bro . William S . Gardner G . M . of Massachusetts , delivered a long address on the coloured question . His arguments were chiefly based on American Masonio laws ; according to which the
African Lodge had not a shadow of right . He also dwelt on its illegal secession from the G . L . of England , forgetting at the same time that the white American Lodges were guilty of the same offence . He quoted the first letter of Bro , Hervey , bnt omitted mention of the second , & c . & c . I reviewed the said address in the July number of the Masonic
Monthly , 1870 . And , among other things , I referred to his ignoring Bro . Hervey ' s second letter . Bro . Gardner read my article carefully , and then frankly acknowledged that my " criticisms wero fair and square j" but he assured me that when he compiled his address , he was not aware that Bro . Hervey changed his opinion . I thereupon exonerated Bro . Gardner from the charge of ignoring in tho next
number of the Masonic Monthly . One mistake of Bro . Gardner in the said address I entirely overlooked in my review , viz ., that the African Lodge became dormant after tho death of Prince Hall in 1807 , and continued so until near 1824 . Tho address of the Grand Master of Ohio last winter in favour of
chartering the coloured Lodges in his jurisdiction , brought out the whole tribe of Masonic qnibblers in our magazines , and the alleged dormancy of the African Lodge was made by them a great point in their arguments . The following specimen will show the st yle of these luminaries : —
" In 1784 the Grand Lodge of England granted a charter to Prince Hall and other coloured men for holding a Lodge in Boston . As there was already a Grand Lodge in Massachusetts , it is evident that the granting of that charter was illegal , and , according to tho recognised principles of American Masonio law , the said charter was null and void . But let that pass . There are still more important irregularities . The
African Lodge , No . 429 , * as it was called , was never recognised by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts . After some time it ceased its connection with the Grand Lodge of England , and about the beginning of the present century its registration was stricken from the rolls of that Grand Lodge , by which act its Masonic life was effectually destroyed , as would be a man ' s life by cutting off his head . In
the course of events , Prince Hall and his compeers died , and the Lodge which had been for some years acting without any Masonic authority fell into abeyance , or in Masonic parlance became dormant , or more properly extinct . Some years afterwards it was revived , but by whom or under what authority , never has been shown by those who revived it . Notice of the revival was given to the Grand Lodge of England , but no reply or recognition followed . It received , of course ,
no recognition from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts . " It is needless to demonstrate that the above paragraph contains very little truth and a great many mis-statements . It is not true that the African Lodge was stricken off from the English roll before the death of Hall , or that the Lodge had been acting during Hall ' s lifetime without any authority . It is not true that the Lodge had
Coloured Masonry In The United States.
ever been dormant ; it consequently never revived , and it consequently never gave notice of such a revival to the Grand Lodge of England . I can satisfy any impartial tribunal that between 1807 , tho year when Prince Hall dio . l , and 1824 , when tho African Lodgo brethren asked the English authorities to grant them either a now charter to work seven degrees , or otherwise empower them to confer tho Royal Arch
degrees ( they understanding that these consisted of four degrees ) , that between theso two periods not a year passed without initiations , & o ., taking place in the African Lodgo ; of all which my friend Bro . Gardner seems to be perfectly satisfied . But the following authorities will further demonstrate the legitimacy of our coloured Masonio organizations : —
1 st . Tho following extract from Dr . Winslow Lewis's letter , in 1868 , to Bro . Lewis Hayden : — " I am also free to confess that , if tho door of our Order was open to all , irrespective of colour , it would make it , as it should be , truly cosmopolitan . I hope to be spared to that epoch , and no one will hail it with more sincere satisfaction than your friend and brother
according to my feeling , WINSLOW LEWIS . " 2 nd . Dr . Joseph Robbing , now Deputy Grand Master of Illinois , also reviewed Bro . Gardner ' s address in 1870 , and cam © to tho sarao conclusion I did . And I am pleased to add , that if Bro . Gardner now had the power , ho would incorporate the coloured Lodges in Massachusetts into tho Grand Lodge ' s jurisdiction .
3 rd . In Ohio , and in Minnesota , the Grand Masters recommended the chartering of the coloured Lodges within their respective juris dictions , and a committee in Ohio , consisting of honest men of both of our political parties , have unanimously pronounced the colonred Masons as legitimate and legal as the whites . 4 th . Bro . John W . Simons , P . G . M . of New York , and Masonio
editor of the New York Dispatch , who is a very estimable gentleman , but strongly tinged with American prejndices against niggers , and who , as already stated , reprinted in the Dispatch the " story No . 2 , " two years after it was exploded by our committee ; tho said Rro . Simons recently admitted to mo , that the conduct of tho Grand Lodgo of Massachusetts in not chartering the African Lodgo ero
it organized its own Grand Lodge was ivrong , thus acknowledging the legal origin of the said Lodgo . 5 th . Bro . Albert Pike , P . G . M . and Sovereign Grand Commander of tho A . and A . Rite of the Southern jurisdiction of tho United States , who is generally admitted as the best authority on Masonic jurisprudence in America , wrote to the G . S . of Ohio as follows : —
" Prince Hall Lodge was as regular a Lodge as any Lodgo created by competent authority , and had a perfect right ( as other Lodges in Europe did ) to establish other Lodges , making itself a mother Lodgo . That ' s the way the Berlin Lodges , Throe Globes and Royal York , became Grand Lodges * * * If the negro Lodges aro not regular , they can easily get regularized . If our Grand Lodges
won't recognise negro Lodges , they have the right to go elsewhere . The Grand Lodgo can't say to eight or more Masons , black , or white , we ' ¦ will not give you a charter because you are negroes , or because yon wish to work in tho Scotch Rite , and you shall not go elsewhere to get one . ' That latter part is bosh . " Be it further known that Bro . Pike is so averse to negroes that he
threatens to withdraw from the Craft if they aro admitted . But lie does not resort , as others have , to quibblings and falsification of historic facts and Masonic precedents . Bro . Piko is the only honourable opponent to the admissiou of negroes in America . Last , and not least , Bro . Caldwoll , G . S . of Ohio , sent mo the following extract of a letter from Bro . Parvin P . G . M ., and now G . S . of Iowa , whoso interesting autobiography appeared recently in the
FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE : — " I havo read opinions of Piko and Lewis in tho pamphlet' New Year' you sent me . My own opinion is , that the negroes can make as good a show for the legality of their Grand Lodges as tho whites can . It is only a matter of taste , and not of law . I am satisfied that all the world outside of the United States will ere long recognise
them , and I think we had much better acknowledge them than to blend them into our organisations . " The above array of American Masonic authorities of' the highest respectability , seconding and sustaining as it were tho opinion of the R . W . Bro . John Hervey , justifies me in earnestly recommending and advising our English W . Masters of Lodges to accord the same
treatment to Americans hailing from colonred Grand Lodges as they do to those of the white Lodges . Should the question ever bo brought before the Grand Lodge of England , I have no doubt that after calm and mature deliberation it will sustain the decisions already passed by the Grand Orient of France , the United Confederation of Grand Lodges in Germany , the Grand Lodges of Belgium , Switzerland ,
Italy , Hungary , and elsewhere , acknowledging the legality of the American coloured Masons . As to the doctrine of " exclusive jurisdiction , " be it remembered that it was through the arrogance , malice , envy , pride , and tyranny of the white Masons towards their coloured brethren—conduct justly denounced by the Grand Orient of Franco as "AN OUTRAGE AGAINST HUMANITY AND MASONRY "—it was through
the nn-Masonic conduct of the whites in the first place that the coloured brethren were driven to establish Grand Lodges of their own ; and even now the fault of divided jurisdiction rests with the whites , for nothing prevents union here , save and except tho pride and arrogance of the whites . "As Masons we are of all tongues , kindreds , religions , and nations . "
All must be judged by the same standard and the same laws . If secession from the Grand Lodge of England was justifiable on the part of the whites , it was also justifiable on the part of the blacks , and vice versa . In short , the question of colour should no more influence our judgment or condnct either for or against a brother Mason than the question of religion , nationality , or politics .
CHINESE CABVHTO . —For Sale , an elaborately carverl set of Ivory Chessmen ; The Kings stand 8 | inches high , the other pieces in proportion . Knights and Pawns on horseback , all mounted on stands , with concentric balls . Can be seen , and fall particulars obtained , on application to W . W . Honour , 07 Barbican , — , 4